Alisa Mujkanović Bogda Handicrafts
Since eight years ago, Alisa embraced weaving as part of her family legacy. Her mother, Amna, suggested that she could teach her a few techniques, and that is how her mother became her teacher. Bogda (piece) craft was born. A piece (bogda) of her dream is captured in all of these entirely handmade products. Wool is washed, combed, and dyed completely by hand.
- Name of Craft in the local language
- Tkanje, Bogda rukotvorine
- Type of Craft
- Traditional wool processing, dyeing and weaving
- Knowledge Holder
- Alisa Mujkanović
- Location, Website
- Prijeko 36, 71300 Visoko, Bosnia and Herzegovina
- Contact
- +387 61 987967
- Type of Business
- Manufacturing undertaken at home and at a small atelier
- Year of Establishment
- 2014 / 2018
- Successors
- No
- Workshop and sales space
- 35 m²
- Materials
- Wool from Pramenka sheep of the autochthonous Bosnian breed, natural dyes for wool, looms and weaving in the traditional way
- Technology / Tools / Machines
- Self-adjusted and self-made tools for washing, dyeing and combing wool
- Techniques / Processes
- Washing, dyeing, combing, spinning, making warp (weft), weaving by hand
- Members / Employees
- 2; Alisa and Amna Mujkanović
- Apprentices
- Not able to find an apprentice or a successor to ensure the continuation of the craft.
- Education of the Craftsperson
- 2 year university education (construction), 8 years of practice and learning with grandmother and mother, who have been weaving at home for decades.
- Best-selling product
- Rugs of different kinds, also dolls and keychains (souvenirs, Bosnian sheep Pramenka).
- Average time of production
- A whole day (always made in series to optimize the process)
- Average price per item
- 5 EUR – 55 EUR
Bogda rukotvorine was YEP Incubator grantee 2018. for start up. Bogda rukotvorine is also part of HOMO FABER by Michelangelo Foundation.
Bogda rukotvorine / Bogda Handicrafts, Alisa (Liso) Mujkanović, Weaver
Since eight years ago, Alisa embraced weaving as part of her family legacy. Her mother, Amna, suggested that she could teach her a few techniques, and that is how her mother became her teacher. Bogda (piece) craft was born. A piece (bogda) of her dream is captured in all of these entirely handmade products. Wool is washed, combed, and dyed completely by hand.
Although she grew up in a home where handicrafts were part of everyday life, Alisa in childhood did not show interest in her grandmother’s and mom’s hobbies. But since 2015 searching for purpose and fulfilling working direction, she listened to her mother’s advice and started to learn weaving. ‘My mother was always in some rags. She was constantly knitting, sewing, or crocheting something and found peace and a way to relax through this hobby. Looking at me worried, she suggested I try one of her relaxation methods. I listened to her and step by step I discovered that weaving awakens creativity in me and the desire to constantly make and combine something’ – Alisa recalled her beginnings. That is how Bogda Rukotvorine was born.
The process of weaving needs a lot of preparation and additional work to be done. The wool is dyed by hand, without chemical additives, so the product is completely natural and healthy. They currently have a palette of fifteen colors. ‘Wool has to be sheared, washed, combed, braided, dyed… I’ve gone through all the stages of processing, I just haven’t sheared the sheep yet and I don’t keep them in the yard. When my friends ask me ‘how’s life’, I say ‘hairy’. I get up and comb the hair (wool thread)’, Alisa explains with a laugh. The work itself takes a lot of time. Only the preparation of wool, which includes combing, dyeing, drying and combing again, is a long process, after which comes the easier, more beautiful and creative part. After making a base for weaving (weft) they can become creative and give piece (Bogda) of their heart, dream and soul into it.
Alisa and her mother live in house near Visoko city. They run their business from home, and their products are sold in various stores in and outside the country. Alisa has a small atelier in Visoko and they also offer in that space wool working classes for broader public and are listed in HOMO FABER catalogue on-line (https://www.homofaber.com/en/experience/wool-working-class-near-sarajevo-jtcjjd)
‘Toys, furniture, rugs and bedspreads, jewelry, anything you can imagine, we can make it from wool,’ says the owner of ‘Bogda Handicrafts’ and loom master, Alisa Mujkanović, with satisfaction. Her grandfather was a textile engineer, her mother Amna perfected handwork – crocheting, knitting and working with wool, so Alisa is the third generation of lovers of this profession. When asked which of the accessories was her favorite, without much thought she picked up one of the sheep, which were everywhere in the studio, in different sizes and decorations.’The sheep was created as part of my desire to thank the customers who made large orders, and in the end it became one of the Bosnian souvenirs’ – she says and adds that it takes about three hours to make one sheep.
